Like everything Faust did, it has the question mark hovering over it, but in this case there is really a rather lovely piano melody in there, somewhere. It has a melancholy, yearning quality to it and it doesn't really sound like anything else. Except Faust.

Me too Norman. I bought the album on the strength of the unlikely successful O Superman and played it a lot. Apart from the Sparky's Magic Piano sound I just liked scattered words and phrases. I never looked into further Laurie Anderson stuff. I never really followed anyone's career ( I've got a lot of first and second albums). Is it art? Dunno. Is it fun? Yes, I think so...playful at least.

Thanks for those, I have been and still am a fan of most of them. I still haven't made up my mind wether you could be a fan of the Residents. But I have remained at awe of their stuff since the Commercial Album, so...

Here's a long standing Finnish band called Circle that owns up to their debt to one of the names mentioned in this thread:

I sometimes think there are two kinds of Beatles fans - those who skip this and those who listen to it loud on headphones. When I was ten I used to lie with my head underneath my parents stereogram (remember them?) listening to the voice saying "number nine" move from one side to the other. God knows what my parents thought but they never said anything. Stepping back from one's own knee-jerk response (whichever way one's knee might be jerking), this was a profoundly subversive piece of work - as its title demanded it should be. Compared to this, pretty much everybody else in pop/rock was whistling in the wind. (Honourable mention should be made of Zappa's "Lumpy Gravy" - but that had no overt political dimension.)

Ian MacDonald, in "Revolution In The Head" (still by far the best book on The Beatles), was the first writer to give this piece the proper critical attention it deserved - making the salient point that this was the most widely disseminated avant-garde artefact ever produced. It's a tragedy that Lennon was not around to read it. I love to imagine him sitting round the Dakota reading THAT particular essay. It was mean of Lennon to exclude McCartney from the creation. (Apparently a quid pro quo for Macca excluding him from "Why Don't We Do It In The Road".) Never mind. It stands as an antique index of possibilities, perfectly of its time and ahead of its time, and a provocative aural gauntlet thrown down for all time.

Adam, I can remember the first time I heard the White Album. The whole thing was different from SPLHCB and all the better for it. (Trying a typical ' follow up' would/could have been a big mistake). Revolution No 9 sorta grabbed me. It drew me in, I've still got a soft spot for it.Aly

Lol Coxhill being very well behaved on saxophones. His nibs himself playing particularly wonderful lead bass guitar. A 17 year old Mike Oldfield on guitar (honestly, the poor boy, what were his parents thinking of?)

They sure don't write middle eights like that any more - mwahahahahahaha!!!

Wow, John, that's incredible. Thank you so much for posting. I have a couple of academic musician friends (ie. classically trained) who will be fascinated by that. I think they've done an excellent job. It shows what a valid piece of music it is, on its own terms, and that Lennon and Ono and Harrison knew what they were doing. It's not just a stoned relic from a bygone age and that's for sure.